By Alex Davidson
Peter Gotti, the brother of late mob boss John Gotti and a Howard Beach resident, was convicted Monday by an anonymous jury in Brooklyn federal court of racketeering and other charges that he had assumed control of the Gambino organized crime family.
The jury needed six days following a 10-week trial to convict Gotti, whose brother Richard V. Gotti and nephew Richard G. Gotti were also found guilty of racketeering. Peter Gotti, who faces up to 20 years in prison, was also convicted of conspiracy and multiple counts of money laundering, but the jury cleared him of two money-laundering counts.
As Peter Gotti was being led from Judge Frederic Block’s courtroom following his conviction, he stopped and made a few comments to reporters.
“Gottis are easy to convict, all you have to have is the name,” he said. He also predicted federal prosecutors would file more charges against him in the future.
Roslynn Mauskopf, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Brooklyn and Queens, told reporters Gotti’s conviction would help keep the Gambino crime family in tatters.
“Today is a historic day on the waterfront and in law enforcement’s fight against organized crime,” she said.
Peter Gotti, 63, was convicted of charges he helped orchestrate illegal activities at piers in Brooklyn and Staten Island and fostered the corruption of labor unions operating along city waterfronts. He was first charged in June in a 68-count indictment along with 16 other members and associates of the Gambino organized crime family, federal prosecutors had said in court papers.
Prosecutors contended that Peter Gotti had taken over as leader of the Gambino organized crime family following the death of his brother John in June. John Gotti, known as “The Dapper Don,” died of cancer in federal prison in Missouri.
The case and charges against Peter Gotti and other members and associates of the Gambino crime family were brought after a three-year, multi-agency investigation that included the use of court-authorized eavesdropping devices, wiretaps and other surveillance methods to keep tabs on the defendants, court papers said.
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
